India Post set to get new tech addresses

NEW DELHI: Targeting improved postal services in India, the government has proposed setting up 12 automatic mail processing centres (AMPCs) in the country during the ongoing Five-Year Plan (2007-12 ). The AMPCs will have high speed sorting machines that will lead to quicker distribution of mails.

���The government has planned to invest Rs 275 crore to set up 12 automatic mail processing centres all over the country,��� said a government official on condition of anonymity. The AMPCs are likely to come up in Delhi and Kolkata by the end of March 2010, the official said. By the end of the Plan period, AMPCs will come up in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubansehwar, Hyderabad , Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Kochi, Patna and Vashi, giving a boost to the efficiency of postal services all over the country, he said.

Recently, there were reports that India Post plans to invite consultants to help the loss-making institution acquire technology solutions , including software applications and computer hardware. The institutions also plans to spend around Rs2,300 crore on technology , according to the reports.

Two AMPCs are already functional in Mumbai and Chennai, which were established in 1993 and 1996 respectively.���All the AMPCs will have highspeed sorting machines that can sort up to 30,000 letters in an hour,��� the government official added. Under automatic mail processing, letters are sorted at a faster pace, leading to quicker distribution of mails. All the letters meant for automatic sorting must have a pin code and should be machinable.

The steps being planned to develop automatic mail processing centres is a part of the initiative taken by the government to modernise and upgrade the operations of the postal services and give a new corporate image to India Post.